German Patent No. DE 40 41 614 C1 discloses a suction biopsy device, which is designed as a manual device and possesses a vacuum source and a biopsy cannula connector, which can be rotated by means of a rotation drive connected via a flexible shaft. A biopsy cannula designed as a hollow cannula can be connected to the biopsy cannula connector, and said biopsy cannula preferably features a circumferential, sharpened cutting edge at its distal end, along the hollow channel of which a vacuum can be applied by means of the vacuum source, which is designed as a piston-cylinder unit, as soon as the hollow cannula has been positioned at a specific intracorporal tissue location.
International Publication No. WO 96/28097 discloses a similar vacuum-supported biopsy device which, although it does not provide for a rotatable hollow cannula, does feature a syringe piston arrangement for generating a vacuum and disposed inside a manual device.
German Publication No. DE 100 34 297 A1 describes, in contrast to the preceding suction biopsy devices with only one hollow needle, a tissue removal endoscopy instrument possessing a biopsy needle arrangement, which features a circumferentially sharpened hollow needle at its distal end and a hollow biopsy needle disposed inside the hollow needle, wherein the internally disposed biopsy needle features at its distal end a depression for removal of tissue samples. A suction instrument for generating a vacuum is disposed on the proximal end of the hollow biopsy needle. Tissue is removed by pushing the biopsy needle arrangement in a shared position into a tissue region to be examined, wherein the biopsy needle features a distal tip, which slightly protrudes from the hollow needle at its distal end, so as to facilitate penetration of the biopsy needle arrangement into the tissue, on the one hand, and to prevent penetration of tissue into the interior of the hollow needle, on the other.
When the biopsy needle arrangement is suitably positioned inside the tissue, the hollow needle is pulled a predetermined distance in a proximal direction, wherein the internally disposed biopsy cannula remains in its position and the depression is exposed. The vacuum applied along the biopsy needle results in an active lowering and/or pulling in of surrounding tissue fragments into the depression. When the distal end of the hollow needle with its sharpened distal end is pushed forward over the biopsy needle in controlled manner, a tissue fragment is severed and enclosed within the depression in the biopsy needle. When the entire biopsy needle arrangement is pulled back, the severed tissue sample is removed from the body for examination purposes. The entire tissue removal process described above is performed in such a way that the needle movements and the vacuum application can be performed manually, individually and separate from one another.
In contrast, the biopsy needle arrangement described in International Publication No. WO 98/25522 permits a relative motion, actuated by elastic force, between the internally disposed hollow biopsy needle and the outer hollow needle enclosing the biopsy needle. In this case, the biopsy needle is also positioned at the distal end of the sharpened distal tip of the hollow needle, wherein a vacuum source is provided to supply a targeted vacuum through the hollow biopsy needle and into the region of its depression and supports the tissue intake process. The process of positioning the biopsy needle relative to and, ultimately, inside the tissue region to be examined is exclusively manual. This type of positioning, especially when examining hard tissue regions, produces only unsatisfactory biopsy results.
Similar vacuum-supported tissue removal devices are, moreover, disclosed by British Patent Publication No. GB 2 018 601 A and European Patent Publication No. EP 0 890 399 A1. In these cases, however, the vacuum sources, as well as other control units needed to guide the biopsy needle in a controlled manner, are designed and featured as external auxiliary units to be connected to the biopsy needle arrangement. US Publication No 2001/0011156 A1 also describes a vacuum-supported biopsy device comprising a compactly designed hand-held device, the housing of which contains all drive elements necessary for the needle drive of the biopsy needle arrangement. However, a vacuum source separate from the hand-held device is provided which is connectable by means of a corresponding supply line to the needle arrangement inside the hand-held device at a suitable connection point.